Eurozone falls into double-dip recession amid pandemic – as it happened

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

• Latest: Eurozone shrank 0.6% in January-March, meaning double-dip recession
• Germany shrank 1.7% in Q1
• Italian GDP down 0.4%
• Spain's GDP fell 0.5% in January-March
• Intro: French GDP grew 0.4% in first quarter of 2021
• Yesterday, US GDP grew by 1.6% (6.4% annualised)

5.03pm BST

Time to wrap up, after a blizzard of GDP reports and other economic data.

Here's all today's stories:

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*** Reminder*** UK equities will be closed Monday due to the early May bank holiday

4.57pm BST

In the City, the FTSE 100 has ended the day 8 points higher at 6970 points, a gain of 0.12% today.

That means it rose around 3.8% in April as a whole, making April the best month since November 2020 (when vaccine success from Pfizer, then Moderna, triggered a major rally).